Abstract
Abstract. In the East Asian monsoon region, winter extreme precipitation events occasionally occur and bring great social and economic losses. From December 2018 to February 2019, southeastern China experienced a record-breaking number of extreme precipitation events. In this study, we analyzed the variation in water vapor isotopes and their controlling factors during the extreme precipitation events in Nanjing, southeastern China. The results show that the variations in water vapor isotopes are closely linked to the change in moisture sources. Using a water vapor d-excess-weighted trajectory model, we identified the following five most important moisture source regions: South China, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and continental regions (northwestern China and Mongolia). Moreover, the variations in water vapor d excess during a precipitation event reflect rapid shifts in the moisture source regions. These results indicate that rapid shifts among multiple moisture sources are important conditions for sustaining wintertime extreme precipitation events over extended periods.
Highlights
South China is under the influence of the East Asian Winter Monsoon during winter, with a prevailing northeasterly wind
Moisture from other sources show lower dv values, due to higher relative humidity at the oceanic source regions (Fig. 5). These results clearly indicate that the changes in moisture source regions could play an important role in the variation in water vapor isotopic compositions in winter extreme precipitation events
We presented stable isotopes in atmospheric water vapor and precipitation for five extreme winter precipitation events in Nanjing, from December 2018 to February 2019
Summary
South China is under the influence of the East Asian Winter Monsoon during winter, with a prevailing northeasterly wind. Li et al, 2020a), such as the disastrous snowstorm in January 2008 (Ding et al, 2008), which caused great losses in agriculture, transportation, and electric power facilities (Zhou et al, 2011). Such extreme events are likely to become more frequent with global warming (Rahmostorf and Coumou, 2011; Qin et al, 2021). Improving the understanding of the characteristics, controlling factors, and moisture sources of winter extreme precipitation events over South China could have great scientific as well as economic significance
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